Qiu Liwei-Public Seat L-Shape Concrete Seat

At Design Interviews

Interview with Qiu Liwei : Frank Scott: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?. Qiu Liwei : As we all known, the concrete public seat is huge and heavy, which makes it difficult to be transported and formed. .Frank Scott: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?. Qiu Liwei : We were trying to solve this problem by disassembling. We disassemble the heavy concrete public seat into many L-shape structures.The advantages are as follows: batch production，low cost of production，convenient to be transport. .Frank Scott: What are your future plans for this award winning design?. Qiu Liwei : We hope to find a suitable factory to follow up production and put into market. .Frank Scott: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?. Qiu Liwei : The product is completed in June 2014. It takes us four months. .Frank Scott: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?. Qiu Liwei : We are always looking for a possibility to produce concrete public seating which is not only quality production, but also convenient to be transported. .Frank Scott: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?. Qiu Liwei : We plan to sell or lease the production rights. .Frank Scott: What made you design this particular type of work?. Qiu Liwei : To me, design is my interest, doing design is just like a game. .Frank Scott: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?. Qiu Liwei : Our team finished this design together by experiments and communicating with each other. .Frank Scott: Who is the target customer for his design?. Qiu Liwei : The L-shape concrete public seat is suitable fordisplaying inuniversity campus and public gardens and so on, which creates Interactive space for sever people to communicate with each other. .Frank Scott: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?. Qiu Liwei : As public seating, it has following advantages: convenient to be transported, and low cost of production. .Frank Scott: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?. Qiu Liwei : The name was given based on the form and materials of itself. .Frank Scott: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?. Qiu Liwei : Wooden mold, cutting tools of wood and metal. .Frank Scott: What is the most unique aspect of your design?. Qiu Liwei : The design isunique because we create the L-shape structure. So we manage to disassemble the whole heavy concrete public seat into many L-shape structures. The L-shape structures are easy to be transported and formed. What’s more, the concrete material combines with nature and the pursuit for appealing design brings the product a lot of happiness. In the meantime, the L-shape structure allows itself to be modified and reformed to produce various types of combination, which adapts different size of fields and satisfies multiple demands of usage.As a whole, the public seat is full of sense of rhythm. .Frank Scott: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?. Qiu Liwei : The members of our team are teachers and students of department of Industrial Design, we finished this design together by experiments and communications. .Frank Scott: What is the role of technology in this particular design?. Qiu Liwei : To connect several units into one seating. .Frank Scott: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?. Qiu Liwei : We find most convenient, fast and low cost way to making outdoor seating through experiments of concrete materials. .Frank Scott: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?. Qiu Liwei : In order to make it delicate and be easy to be transported and formed, the L-shape structure is the thinner the better. So it is a big challenge for its forming because the L-shape structure is made by concrete. We tried hard to reduce its thickness from 10cm to 7cm first, and then from 7cm to 5cm, which took a lot of time and effort. Moreover, the size and amount of reserved holes have a significant impact on the forming and turning model of the L-shape structure．We made the turning model success by puttingPVC tubes into the holes in the formwork, which ensure that the formwork can be easily removedand is in good condition. .Frank Scott: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?. Qiu Liwei : We wanted to make a better broadcast for this design, and look for more possibility to put it into market. .Frank Scott: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?. Qiu Liwei : Design is a practical lesson. Practice can take me more possibilities of thoughts and actions. .Frank Scott: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?. Qiu Liwei : The product has not been put on the market, but we are confident to make the product spread all over the university campus and public gardens and so on because of its modern style and bargain price. .